Gloversville Spring Festival set for May 6

Kerry Minor

Reporter

kminor@leaderherald.com

GLOVERSVILLE — The city’s Downtown Development Specialist Jennifer Jennings is gearing up for her first slate of events in the next few months.

First up will be the Spring Festival at the Farmer’s Market Pavilion on May 6, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Jennings said the event is meant to get people thinking about the upcoming growing season and planting gardens and flower beds.

“In this area, while we really enjoy our snow, and have great activities to make snow enjoyable, we all start to emerge when spring comes and starting thinking about living outdoors more,” she said.

The event coincides with the start of the city’s Farmer’s Market that takes place every Saturday from the first weekend in May until October. She said the event is also seen as a way to kick of the Farmer’s Market season with something festive.

She said there will be market vendors, music, an ask-the-expert table along with free sapplings from Fulton County Water and Soil. Children will also find activities at the festival.

She said it is not known what the turnout will be, since it is the event’s first year, but said there is excitement for it.

“I think everybody is ready to celebrate spring at this point,” she said. “This is a fun, nice way to do it.”

She said she is looking for vendors for the Twilight Markets that are planned for the second Fridays in July, August and September.

Jennings said there are nine vendors so far, with the possibility for three to six more spaces. She said they are looking for prepared- food vendors since they already have a mix of artisans, farmers and food producers.

She said the goal of the event is to get families outdoors for a little while and enjoy what Main Street has to offer. She said having prepare food vendors on hand will encourage people to buy their dinner downtown and stay to sit and enjoy.

“The whole goal of everything that is happening this year is to reconnect community with downtown. We’d have people mixing and mingling about in our urban core and connect and see it for what it really is,” she said.

Jennings said a major goal of the Twilight Market is for everybody to feel comfortable, and come down and do things for free or buy groceries and dinner. She said the idea is to show that downtown has “lingerability.”

Main Street from Fulton to Church streets will be blocked off to vehicles. Family-friendly activities such as games will be at Castiglione Park or at the market space and a kid-friendly movie will be shown. Each event will have a theme: Summer Splash, Glove City Celebration and Fresh Start.

Jennings said the Downtown Gloversville Business Improvement District’s Cabin Fever Chili Cookoff and Brewfest on March 25 was a very well-attended event that saw community groups participate as chili preparers. The event saw more than 125 people come out.

“It was a wonderful kickoff to the 2017 season and hopefully we can build on these thing in the future and people recognize that there are wonderful things happening downtown,” she said.

Jennings said that she is hopeful these events will lead more people to stop and look at downtown.